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Help making a stand please

So i saw the hammock stand post by alamosa, and got to thinking, you know i will eventually run into a situation where i might need something like this. So i went to Lowes and was looking at bamboo poles a la turtlelady, but they all looked too thin, how thick should they be?
So i took some pictures and hopefully you geniuses can lead me in the right direction.

Yeah Id go alittle bigger that that. It it wasnt so expensive to ship the stuff Id ship you a ton of it for free. I have 3 Bamboo Groves at my house. The shipping cost on it is pretty high cuz of the shape i guess.

thanks!

Originally Posted by XTrekker

Yeah Id go alittle bigger that that. It it wasnt so expensive to ship the stuff Id ship you a ton of it for free. I have 3 Bamboo Groves at my house. The shipping cost on it is pretty high cuz of the shape i guess.

thanks i really appriciate that. is there anywhere i can order them from? or any places they can be found?

thanks i really appriciate that. is there anywhere i can order them from? or any places they can be found?

Maybe a Local Nursery. Not sure if bamboo grows well in your area. I know it grows great in mine but our seasons arent as harsh as yours probably is. Im just inside of zone 8 and it grows all over the place here. If you end up ordering it online, the shipping will get abit expensive if the poles are of decent size. Wish I could be of more help. The offer still stands if you want me to ship you some. You would just need to cover the shipping is all. Bamboo has a hard time growing in zones 6 or lower. They need special care in those regions. http://www.shweeashbamboo.com/bamboo...aintenance.htm2006_Hardiness_Zones.jpg

The key is the compression pole connecting the towers. It would be great if you could find a piece of bamboo 10-12' feet long for that. Lash it all together with manila and it would look really cool.

Its possible but I have a feeling it will begin to split and crack after a few uses. I just looks too thin. Been crafting with bamboo for quite a few years and it is a remarkable material. Super strong for its size and weight. Excellent for just about anything. But it has its limits when it comes to thin diameter poles. If it were just a bit bigger, I would say you should have no issues. But then again, bamboo will surprise the heck out of you sometimes.

I guess its worth a try. But at the same time, $2.68 per pole is a bit pricey for me. If it works then awesome. You will have a super-duper light-weight portable hammock stand.

Alamosa's stand has got to be the ultimate in a portable outdoor stand but I don't believe that the vertical poles can be substituted with the bamboo used in the Turtlelady stand. The TL stand uses the bamboo in 3 legs in each tripod spreading the load through all 6 legs. To use bamboo for the 2 vertical poles of Alamosa's stand would require substantially larger bamboo to counter all of the variable stresses applied to them.

The Turtlelady stand was developed to allow her the opportunity to continue sleeping in her hammock while traveling and staying in motels. The turtledog was just the male need to add hardware and my desire to never sleep in a bed again. This is just to say that we all feed off of the input of others here. I still go to sleep in my hammock every night trying to devise the ultimate hammock, suspension, stand, etc. Keep the ideas flowing.

Most of us end up poorer here but richer for being here. Olddog, Fulltime hammocker, 365 nights a year.